Nectar-rich Teasel Easy to Grow from Spring Seed

Planting Dipsacus fullonum in USDA Zones 5-8 as Food for Birds

Feb 15, 2009

Overwintering Teasel attracts small birds, like buntings, goldfinches, sparrows, to its super-sized brown seedheads. Gardeners can encourage self-sowing teasel in spring.

In midsummer, beneficial insects, butterfly, hoverfly, bee and small birds will find Dipsacus fullonum (common name Teasel) attractive for its nectar-rich flowerheads. With its seeds dispersed by the wind, Teasel is a biennial plant that self-sows with ease in most fertile soils in springtime.

Gardeners wishing to control where the tall plants of Dipsacus fullonum, Teasel grow to attract wildlife to their gardens can collect teasel seed and sow in early spring in cultivated soil. Teasel can also be propogated by seed in autumn.

Teasel does not have a favourite site or soil pH and will easily grow in alkaline to neutral soil in USDA Zones 5-8. Teasel can also grow in extreme conditions of high exposure and slightly acidic soil of 6 to 6.5 in Scotland, shown in the image below. An individual Teasel seedling may grow and develop into a mature plant of around 1.5 metres in height and 60 to 80 centimetres spread.

Teasel, Insects and Birds Across the Seasons

Sowing Teasel seed and encouraging self-sown Teasel seedlings in Spring is popular with gardeners keen to encourage bees, butterflies and hoverflies to their garden. In the lead up to seed dispersal in Spring, Teasel with its drying out large seedheads remains attractive to beneficial insects from autumn and over winter. After rain, basins of water will collect near the base of the Teasel leaves. Some insects will drown as a result, offering restaurants for small birds landing on the Teasel, including buntings, goldfinches and sparrows, the chance to meet their nutritional requirements in the colder months.

Teasel seedlings become established in late Spring. “In midsummer the tightly packed flowerheads emerge on tall, upright stems from a prickly rosette of dark green leaves. The tiny pink-purple flowers open a few at a time, starting with a band at the middle of the cone and spreading to the opposite ends, guaranteeing a long flowering display” freelance editor and garden writer Rosemary Creeser reports about Dipsacus fullonum in her Wildlife Friendly Plants: Make your garden a haven for beneficial insects, amphibians and birds (Collins & Brown, 2004).

Companion Architectural Plants for Teasel

Member of the Dipsacaceae family, Dipsacus fullonum, has been long considered as an architectural plant. The RHS New Encyclopedia of Plants of Flowers (Dorling Kindersley, 1999) describes Dipsacus fullonum or Teasel as “thistle-like”. Such an appearance has encouraged some garden designers to pair Teasel with the plant Eryngium variifolium, a member of Umbeliferae family. Known also by its common name Sea Holly, Eryngium variifolium brings purple-grey spiky super-sized seedheads that can equal the longevity as a dried ornamental flower of Dipsacus fullonum, Teasel.

The copyright of the article Nectar-rich Teasel Easy to Grow from Spring Seed in Biennial Plants is owned by Susan Morris. Permission to republish Nectar-rich Teasel Easy to Grow from Spring Seed in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.